Less than a week before Tuesday’s crucial Republican presidential primary in Michigan, a new NBC News/Marist poll shows Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum locked in a statistical tie, while a separate NBC/Marist survey shows Romney comfortably leading in Arizona, which holds its primary the same day.

In Michigan – which has turned into a make-or-break contest for Romney – the former Massachusetts governor gets the support of 37 percent of likely GOP primary voters, including those who are leaning toward a particular candidate.

Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, gets 35 percent, and he’s followed by Texas Rep. Ron Paul at 13 percent and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 8 percent.

“Michigan is neck and neck,” says pollster Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted both surveys.

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The Enemy

When the Christian-bashing liberal pundits attack Santorum for his firm stance on Christian morals, he should just reply to them by saying this: “Read 2 Chronicles 7:14 in the Bible. End of discussion”.

Bree

Absolutely! There is a war going on against Christianity and for the very soul of America. It is going to take every true Christian to stand and contend for the Faith. We cannot afford to be the walking wounded. This is a battle we cannot afford to lose not one more day or one more hour.

patriotrenegade

There are demo union crossover votes and they will never forgive CFR knewtieboy for NAFTA and other sins, and the repub side is finally wising up about this guy. He’s left with yahoos.

hearmetalking

You can call me Newtie boy all day long. Newt is the one everyone is trying too take down,wonder why??? I do not care what Newt has done in his past. look at Pelosi… I’m voting for Newt

http://verizon Ann Rand

hear me… Those who criticize Newt only wish they were as smart…

patriotrenegade

yeah, Fredo Corleone said in his famous scene with brother Mike: “I’M SMART! I CAN HANDLE THINGS!. Fredo looks like a brain surgeon next to you.

still moral

You don’t even have a brain worth operating on.

still moral

I agree with you 100%, Newt would never apologize like that lowlife vile despicable Obummer is doing right now. PatriotRenegade is an Obummer lover.

■FACT: “Santorum was a prolific supporter of earmarks, having requested billions of dollars for pork projects in Pennsylvania while he was in Congress.” (Club for Growth, 2012 Presidential White Paper #4, Rick Santorum)■FACT: “The announcements flowed out of Rick Santorum’s Senate office: a $3.5 million federal grant to Piasecki Aircraft to help it test a new helicopter propeller technology; another $3.5 million to JLG Industries to bolster its bid to build all-terrain forklifts for the military; $1.4 million to Medico Industries to upgrade equipment for its munitions work. … But an examination of Mr. Santorum’s earmark record sheds light on another aspect of his political personality, one that is at odds with the reformer image he has tried to convey on the trail: his prowess as a Washington insider. A review of some of his earmarks, viewed alongside his political donations, suggests that the river of federal money Mr. Santorum helped direct to Pennsylvania paid off handsomely in the form of campaign cash.” (Michael Luo and Mike McIntire, The New York Times, 1/15/12)■FACT: Santorum voted for the 2005 highway bill, which included hundreds of earmarks, including the bridge to nowhere, a teapot museum. (H.R. 3, Roll Call Vote #220, 7/29/05)
■FACT: Santorum supported the “Bridge to Nowhere” – twice. Santorum “voted for the 2005 highway bill that included thousands of wasteful earmarks, including the Bridge to Nowhere. In fact, in a separate vote, Santorum had the audacity to vote to continue funding the Bridge to Nowhere rather than send the money to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.” (Club for Growth, 2012 Presidential White Paper #4, Rick Santorum)
■FACT: Santorum admitted he voted for bridge, and defended vote: “People say that I voted for ‘The Bridge to Nowhere.’ I did. I went with the federalist argument, which is, ‘Who am I in Pennsylvania to tell Alaska what their highway priorities should be?’” (William Petroski, Des Moines Register, 12/29/11)
In a single session, Rick Santorum co-sponsored 51 bills to increase spending … And zero to cut spending.

■FACT: “In the 2003-2004 session of Congress, Santorum sponsored or cosponsored 51 bills to increase spending, and failed to sponsor or co-sponsor even one spending cut proposal.” (Club for Growth, 2012 Presidential White Paper #4, Former Senator Rick Santorum)
Rick Santorum even voted to raise his own pay.

■FACT: In 2002, Santorum voted “to secure the Federal voting rights of certain qualified persons who have served their sentences.” Santorum was one of only three Republican senators to vote with Sen. Hillary Clinton for the measure, which failed in the Senate. (S. 565, Roll Call Vote #31, 2/14/02)■FACT: Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), who sponsored the measure, on the purpose of his amendment: “Basically what this amendment does is ensure that ex-felons, people who have fully served their sentences, have completed their probation, have completed their parole, should not be denied their right to vote.” (Sen. Harry Reid, Remarks on the Senate Floor, 2/14/02)

Facts on Mitt Romney
1. As head of the investment company Bain Capital, Mitt Romney laid off thousands of workers.

.21. Mitt Romney would repeal the Dodd-Frank bill, which regulates the risky practices that led to the 2008 crisis.

[ThinkProgress, 08/25/2011]

22. Mitt Romney, who lambasts the “failures” of government-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, profits from investments in the firms.

Facts on Ron Paul
1. “Of the 620 measures that Paul has sponsored [since 1976], just four have made it to a vote on the House floor. Only one has been signed into law.”

2. Ron Paul is 76 years old and would be 80 at the end of a hypothetical first term.

3. In 2007, Ron Paul criticized Abraham Lincoln for using military force to end slavery during the Civil War: “He shouldn’t have gone to war… Slavery was phased out in every other country in the world and the way I’m advising that it should have been done is do like the British Empire did; you buy the slaves and release them.”

4. In 2009, Ron Paul said even the Nazi Holocaust was not sufficient cause for interventionism. He said, among other things, “No, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t risk American lives to [end the Holocaust].”

6. Just days after the horrific 9/11 attacks that killed 3,000 Americans, Ron Paul blamed America for the attacks: “It is clear that protecting certain oil interests and our presence in the Persian Gulf help drive the holy war. Muslims see this as an invasion and domination by a foreign enemy, which inspires radicalism.”

7. In a television interview he gave in 1995, Ron Paul explicitly and personally endorsed the views of his newsletter: “I also do an investment letter. It’s called the Ron Paul Survival Report, and I put that out on a monthly basis … which is a gold-oriented newsletter, but it’s also, uh, convening — expressing concern about surviving in this age of big government, where there’s a lot of taxes and regulations, and attacks on our personal liberties.”

8. Ron Paul refuses to disavow support from “the racists, anti-Semites and neo-Nazis in his coalition (sorry, but whatever you think of Lew Rockwell, Stormfront and David Duke certainly deserve such labels).”

9. In an interview he gave just last month, Ron Paul also refuses to disclaim the despicable 9/11 Truther movement and, in fact, actively encourages it. When asked “why won’t you come out about the truth about 9/11?”, he responded: “Because I can’t handle the controversy, I have the IMF the Federal Reserve to deal with, the IRS to deal with because no because I just have more-too many things on my plate. Because I just have too much to do.”